Anderson County gives preliminary approval to larger waterline near U.S. 29

Anderson County Council members vote at a called council meeting about the expansion of a waterline.

Anderson County Council member Tom Allen discusses a waterline expansion while attending a called council meeting.

ANDERSON COUNTY - The Anderson County Council has given preliminary approval to a larger water pipeline that would serve First Quality Enterprises on Masters Boulevard and could attract other businesses to the area along U.S. 29.

The council met briefly Wednesday afternoon to discuss changing from a 20-inch pipeline to a 30-inch pipeline in that area and voted unanimously to approve the expansion. The larger pipeline is expected to cost $5.7 million - about $1 million more than the smaller version- according to preliminary estimates from Scott Willett, the executive director of the Anderson Regional Joint Water System.

"In terms of installing the pipeline, 80 or 90 percent of the cost is related to the trench," he said Wednesday after the council meeting. "In exchange for that extra $1 million, they are tremendously increasing the capacity in that area, which is huge for attracting industry. It is real bang for the buck."

The larger pipeline would allow for an extra 10 million gallons of water flowing daily to the area surrounding U.S. 29.

"It seems like, for economic-development reasons, there is a big need for raw water usage," council Chairman Tommy Dunn said. "This will give us a leg up in economic development, because instead of a company waiting for capacity, it will already be here. … We will be able to say, 'Look, we've got it.' This will pay dividends in the long run."

'This will pay dividends in the long run."

The county will use its proceeds from the sale of the tri-county landfill - about $940,000 - to absorb most of the increased cost of the pipeline. Council member Francis Crowder asked interim county administrator Rusty Burns and county attorney Mike Pitts to make the South Carolina Department of Commerce, the Upstate Alliance "and all applicable bodies aware that Anderson County is launching forward on this and has the ingredients to do something good."

Burriss Nelson, the county economic development director, and Burns have both said that Anderson County has received at least two requests from industries for information about that area along U.S. 29. The county does not have any commitments from other industries, they said.

Willett said discussions about increasing the size of the pipeline have been ongoing for about a month. The council had a special meeting Wednesday just to indicate the county's commitment on the project, which Willett said was necessary as quickly as possible.

"We had hoped that another industry would be signing by now to help defray the cost of this," Willett said Wednesday. "Even though that hasn't happened yet, upsizing this pipe is still a worthy investment."